INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Indianapolis took advantage of good field position during the second quarter Saturday night and outscored Missouri S&T 28-7 during that span, leading the Greyhounds to a 42-16 Great Lakes Valley Conference win over the Miners at Key Stadium.
All four of UIndy's touchdown drives in the second quarter started at the 50-yard line or closer, including three that began inside S&T's 30-yard line. Two of the drives came after interceptions and a third came after a long kickoff return right after the Miners had posted their first points of the game late in the first half.
The Miners (3-6, 2-3 GLVC) got into UIndy territory on its first two drives of the game, but the stalled after getting as far as the Greyhounds' 37-yard before a sack on third forced S&T to punt and the second got across the 50 on a 32-yard pass completion from Staton King to CJ Jarmon. However, the Miners gained little additional yardage and had to punt again.
UIndy's first play run in Miner territory came after an interception, but Stefan Camplin picked off a Christian Conkling pass to get the ball right back to the Miners. S&T forced another turnover when the Greyhounds (7-1, 4-0 GLVC) returned to Miner territory on their next possession, as Nick Mattli forced a fumble that was recovered by Aidan Hurtado at the S&T 37-yard line.
Another S&T turnover, however, set up the first score of the game as KJ Roudebush picked off a King pass and ran it back to the Miners' 11-yard line. JaQuan Buchanan scored on a 10-yard run two plays later for the first points of the night.
UIndy's next play from scrimmage also resulted in a touchdown, as after a Miner punt, Buchanan dashed 50 yards for a touchdown to extend the Greyhound lead to 14-0 with nine minutes remaining in the opening half. Later in the quarter, the Greyhounds picked off another pass, which led to Buchanan's third score of the night on a one-yard run.
The Miners, aided by a pair of UIndy penalties, answered with their first scoring drive of the night late in the first half. King got rid of a pass in the face of a blitz and connected with Isaiah Wright at the UIndy five-yard line, then Wright caught a scoring pass on third down while being double covered to cut the lead to 21-7 with 47 seconds remaining.
A 76-yard return by Markez Gillam on the ensuing kickoff to the S&T 21-yard line, however, gave UIndy another chance to score before halftime, which it did when Buchanan scored from eight yards out for his fourth touchdown of the half to give the Greyhounds a three-touchdown lead at the intermission.
In the second half, after UIndy added to its lead on the first play on a 67-yard scoring pass from Conkling to Gillam, the Miners drove deep into Greyhound territory on two occasions. S&T came up empty after reaching the one-yard line as the drive ended with a missed field goal, then got back to the one early in the fourth quarter and got three points out of the drive on a 20-yard field goal by Parker Boyce.
Following the field goal, S&T's defense forced a three-and-out to bring about a punt. The snap sailed over the head of punter Ryan Zoeller and after he was unable to bat the ball out of the end zone, Akil Mitchell pounced on it for an S&T touchdown. But another UIndy kickoff return into Miner territory followed, leading to Conkling's second touchdown pass of the second half as he hit Frank Bentley on a 15-yard pass.
The Greyhounds finished the night with 295-204 advantage in total yards, with Buchanan running for 95 yards and the four scores. S&T got 67 yards on the ground from leading rusher Cameren Smith, but finished with only 25 net yards on the ground. The Miners used two quarterbacks in the game – King and Max Conard – who combined to go 17-of-50 for 179 yards.
Jack Hayes and Ben Straatmann had eight tackles apiece to lead the Miner defensive effort.
Missouri S&T will be idle next week and closes out the 2022 campaign on Nov. 12 when it hosts Southwest Baptist on Military Appreciation Day at Allgood-Bailey Stadium. Missouri S&T's seniors will be also honored prior to the game that afternoon.
